Swollen Sabine Overflows Banks for 2nd Time This Year

GREGG COUNTY — The Sabine River began creeping into several Gregg County homes this past week as the rain-swollen river has risen well above flood stage at several points — and keeps rising. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report it’s the second time this year the river has escaped its banks. “I’ve never seen it flood twice that close together before,” said longtime Gregg County resident Jack Shirey, who has lived at his home on Phillips Road since 1988. Shirey said the Sabine in January crested at just a couple of feet below his home, which rests on stilts. Because of its elevation, Shirey said he wasn’t concerned about record flooding in the coming week, either. “There’s a whole lot of folks worse off than I am,” he said.

Folks along the Sabine who are bracing for record flooding through the middle of the coming week were among many across the region Friday dealing with the aftermath of record rainfalls that inundated the region earlier this week. In Harleton, Harrison County officials said it was only a matter of time until a rain-weakened earthen dam at Lake Deerwood gives way. Liberty Road was closed and residents below the dam were encouraged to evacuate Thursday. “More has given way,” Fire Marshal Thomas Mock said Friday afternoon, describing the slow, steady erosion of the dam’s backside above the road. “It will probably finally give way. It’s slowly eroding away.”

In the Longview area, the National Weather Service was predicting the peak is still days away, as well. The Sabine below Longview was at 32.93 feet at 8 p.m. Friday and expected to rise to 34.4 feet by Wednesday. Flood stage there is 25 feet. At Gladewater, where flood stage is 26 feet, the river was at 35.25 feet and expected to crest at 37.5 feet by midnight Tuesday.

Residents who live near Hollybrook Drive and Airline Road in Longview have experienced significant flooding, resident Lori Wilcox said. Wilcox said she has been fighting with city officials for the past eight years over the culverts in her neighborhood not properly draining rainwater. She said her driveway and her neighbor’s were completely washed out, with her neighbor having to relocate. “My car was completely flooded,” Wilcox said. “The bridge along my driveway is also completely washed out.” Calls to city officials Friday were not immediately returned.